Berkeley, George (1685–1753)

Irish philosopher and cleric who believed that nothing exists apart from perception, and that the all-seeing mind of God makes possible the continued apparent existence of things. For Berkeley, everyday objects are collections of ideas or sensations, hence the dictum esse est percipi (‘to exist is to be perceived’). He became bishop of Cloyne in 1734.

With John Locke and David Hume he is considered to be one of the British empiricists, but his philosophy – that nothing exists except in the mind – is also described as subjective idealism.